IT Service Manager

IT Service Manager

Location: Coventry (Hybrid Working Available)

Salary: £55,000 - £65,000

Job Type: Full-time, Permanent

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced and customer-focused IT Service Manager to take ownership of the performance, governance, and continual improvement of our IT services.

This is a pivotal leadership role responsible for ensuring the delivery of high-quality, business-critical IT services while managing and developing the Service Desk function as the single point of contact for incidents and service requests.

Working closely with senior business and technology stakeholders, you will translate business priorities into measurable service outcomes, drive service excellence, and ensure services remain secure, resilient, compliant, and cost-effective. You'll play a key role in shaping the future of IT service delivery through automation, AI adoption, continual improvement, and strong governance.

IT Service Manager Key Responsibilities

Service Leadership & Governance

Own the end-to-end performance, governance, and continual improvement of IT services.

Develop and maintain service management strategies, operating plans, and improvement roadmaps.

Act as the senior service management lead, ensuring business priorities are translated into effective service outcomes.

Chair service reviews and governance forums, providing clear updates on performance, risks, financials, and improvement activities.

Service Desk Management

Lead and develop the Service Desk function, including Service Desk Agents and Service Analysts.

Ensure consistent processes for incident and service request intake, triage, prioritisation, routing, communication, and fulfilment.

Set clear objectives, expectations, and performance standards across the team.

Foster a customer-centric culture focused on service excellence and continuous improvement.

Service Performance & Customer Experience

Take ownership of service performance, customer satisfaction, resilience, and service value.

Define, monitor, and report on KPIs, SLAs, customer experience metrics, and operational trends.

Produce insightful management reports and dashboards to support data-driven decision-making.

Identify recurring issues and opportunities to improve service quality and efficiency.

Automation, AI & Continuous Improvement

Champion the responsible use of automation and artificial intelligence within service management processes.

Drive initiatives that reduce manual effort, improve consistency, accelerate fulfilment times, and enhance customer experience.

Maintain a prioritised continual improvement portfolio focused on measurable business outcomes.

Deliver improvements across service quality, resilience, efficiency, and user satisfaction.

Incident, Problem & Change Management

Lead the response to major incidents and critical service escalations.

Ensure effective communication, business continuity, service restoration, and stakeholder engagement during major incidents.

Drive robust problem management practices and post-incident reviews.

Own service change governance, ensuring an appropriate balance between innovation, service stability, and risk management.

Ensure new and changed services transition smoothly into operational support.

Supplier & Commercial Management

Manage strategic supplier relationships and service performance.

Hold suppliers accountable for contractual obligations, service levels, and improvement commitments.

Support contract negotiations, renewals, procurement activities, and sourcing decisions.

Oversee service budgets, forecasts, cost optimisation initiatives, and demand management activities.

Risk, Compliance & Resilience

Maintain oversight of service risks, controls, operational resilience, and compliance requirements.

Ensure appropriate governance around cyber security, data protection, backup and recovery, disaster recovery, and audit obligations.

Support adherence to recognised industry standards and best practices.

Ensure service acceptance criteria, support models, ownership, documentation, monitoring, and funding are established before services go live.

About You

You will be an accomplished IT Service Management professional with a proven track record of leading business-critical services, driving service excellence, and developing high-performing service teams.

Essential Skills & Experience

Significant experience managing a portfolio of business-critical IT services.

Proven leadership experience managing and developing Service Desk teams.

Strong experience with IT Service Management (ITSM) platforms and service improvement initiatives.

Demonstrable success delivering automation, AI-enabled service improvements, and operational efficiencies.

Extensive experience managing service performance, governance, customer experience, risk, and continual improvement programmes.

Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and present complex service issues in a clear, business-focused manner.

Experience managing strategic suppliers, service contracts, and commercial relationships.

Strong financial management skills, including budgeting, forecasting, cost optimisation, and investment planning.

Experience leading major incident management, service recovery, and problem management activities.

Excellent understanding of:

Incident Management

Service Request Fulfilment